


Nightmares

by Wardove



Series: Spider Stories [1]
Category: Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (2018)
Genre: Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Miles Morales Needs a Hug
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-29
Updated: 2019-03-29
Packaged: 2019-12-26 03:57:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 805
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18275291
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Wardove/pseuds/Wardove
Summary: Miles has nightmares, and Jeff wishes he could offer more than a quiet hug.





	Nightmares

**Author's Note:**

> So, I watched this movie like 5 times in a week, and I've read a lot of hurt/comfort stuff for it, but not much regarding the fact that Miles literally witnessed Fisk kill Spider-man in a frankly gruesome way. And the fact that he said he couldn't watch Spider-man be killed *again*, I'm surprised no-one called him on it. Like I know the other spiders were glitching out and the multiverse was in danger but like... yeah. 
> 
> So I chugged about 6 cups of extra-strength coffee at midnight, set "Scared of the Dark" to repeat, and typed this in under an hour, and now I'm posting it with absolutely no editing or beta-reading so I apologize for that, but have some secondhand emotions because I'm very emotional about this scene thank you very much. (maybe someone who isn't strung out on too much coffee will find a better way to write this someday?)

It was a little over a month before Jeff realized something that made his heart stutter. Before the new Spider-man appeared, before the mess with Fisk, before Aaron... Before everything went crazy. It had been such an odd thing, but with everything else happening so quickly afterwards, it'd almost slipped his mind. 

_"Do you really hate Spider-man?"_ It'd seemed a strange question, made even stranger by the fact that Miles was _home_ , when he was supposed to be at school. And he'd been so upset... But then the news came on, and Spider-man was _dead_ and _**was that really a coincidence?**_

At first, Jeff thought he'd just seen an earlier broadcast of the news. But he'd been so upset that night... His gut was insisting he was _missing_ something, but he couldn't grasp it. 

Two weeks after the first thought, he'd woken in the middle of the night on a weekend when Miles was home, and gone to get some water. Returning to his room though, he paused as he realized he could hear voices coming from Miles's room. He was about to knock and scold the boy- even if it was the weekend he had to get at least some sleep, but then the words froze him in his tracks. 

"Kid, it's okay, just breathe in and out, real smooth okay?" The worn, middle-aged voice sounded exhasuted and strained. 

"We all have our demons lurking in the dark." This one, a deep growl.

"Guys chill. Miles, you with us?" And a girl- teenaged maybe, sounding equally annoyed and worried. 

A stifled, choked sob from Miles. "I- yeah. Sorry I just- I woke you guys up, so-"

"Jezuus kid _breathe_. We're here with you, okay? Uhhh, you uh, wanna talk about it?"

"No." 

"Miles this is the fifth nightmare this week. If you don't wanna talk to us, talk to your parents, or Aunt May or-"

"No! No they're the _last_ ones I can tell. It's fine, really." 

That hurt, Jeff recoiled slightly from the door. What could be haunting his boy that he wouldn't, that he _couldn't_ tell him? There was silence from the other voices for a moment before the first voice spoke again. 

"Gwen, Noir, can you guys drop out of the call for a minute and lemme talk to Miles alone?" 

The other two grumbled, but they bid goodnight, and after a moment of silence (Miles still sniffling a bit) the man spoke again. 

"Was it about your uncle again?"

"I... no. No it was..." Miles took a deep breath slowly, letting it out in a broken rush of words. "It was Peter. Our- this Peter. He- I didn't tell- but I saw, I _saw_ Fisk in the collider when, when he-" He choked again. 

" _Miles_." 

"I was there. I was down in the tunnels looking for that spider, and then Green Goblin was there and I tried to get away but I fell into the collider and Peter caught me, he- he was distracted, and if I hadn't been there maybe, maybe he wouldn't-" 

"No, no Miles you stop right there okay?" A huge sigh, Jeff could almost imagine the owner of the voice running their hand through hair. "Jesus... That's why you felt so responsible for the rest of us. Why you kept saying..." 

"'I can't watch Spider-man die again.' Yeah." 

"Miles you gotta talk to someone." 

"I'm handling it." 

"You're not! Kid you've been running yourself ragged- you haven't been sleeping, you haven't been eating, you're pushing yourself too far!"

"I _can_ handle it! I have to!"

Jeff couldn't take it anymore- he rapped his knuckles on the door-frame, waiting a moment for the quick yelp and electronic chirp (didn't sound like the phone but that was irrelevant) before he opened the door, finding Miles on the floor, back against his bed and arm shoved under the blankets, eyes wide and tears still tracking down his cheeks. 

"Uhhhh... Hey dad, what're-" Jeff didn't let him finish the sentence, quickly kneeling down on the floor and gathering his boy up in a tight hug. Miles squirmed slightly, but didn't try to say anything. 

After a minute of silence Jeff angled himself until his back was against the bed, and Miles was tugged into his lap, still caught in the hug. They sat like that until they were both asleep. In the morning nothing was said, but after that Miles would simply appear in his room (even on weeknights), and Jeff and Rio would bundle him in blankets and hugs, and the family would sit on the sofa, sometimes with the TV, sometimes without. 

Jeff hoped that someday Miles would tell him about the nightmare (though he'd gotten enough from the eavesdropping to know like a stone in his gut), but until then, he'd be there waiting with warm reassurance.

**Author's Note:**

> So yeah. It's a mess, but I just really wanted to get these emotions out. Thanks for reading, and hopefully you've been run over by the emotions-train too.


End file.
